Dubai: We anticipated bickering and hate. Instead what we got was very different. Listening to Indians and Pakistanis talk about shared journeys in the UAE, we discovered they have more in common than expected.
70 YEARS OF PARTITION
It’s been 70 years since partition, but its significance still resonates with the expatriate community from the two countries.
How newspapers reported the birth of two nations
Farheen Hassan, an Indian national based in Dubai, believes that August 14-15 is a “memory of violence that was unnecessary and should not have happened” between two countries that are so similar.
“ ... because of visa issues and other concerns I have never been able to visit my mother’s side of the family in Pakistan. As for the UAE, the younger generation, of Indians and Pakistanis, is far more tolerant because they’ve grown up together.”
Arshad Ali, a Pakistani national and sales supervisor working in Sharjah, agrees. He believes that partition should not have happened: “The separation has led to fractious relations between neighbours, which is having a direct impact on trade routes and economic development for both countries. India could have had much easier road access to central Asia and Iran.”
During partition, up to 17 million people were displaced, and till today, Indians have relatives in Pakistan and vice versa.
Ali said “half of my family is still in India and half is in Pakistan; it’s difficult for me as a Pakistani to visit India” and meet them.
Jaskirat Singh Ahluwalia, who was born and brought up in Punjab, India, has heard similar stories from his grandparents about people missing their homes and being forced to leave. A resident of Dubai, he said: “For children today, it’s a national holiday. They don’t understand what independence means. It’s only limited to history books.”
Life coach Shreya Maheshwari understands the significance of the date, but confesses that her “definition of ‘independence’ is different from what our forefathers fought for”.
She said: “It was originally to get freedom for one’s own country, although presently it represents freedom of speech, expression and being able to get basic civil rights. The word itself has come to represent larger issues like that of women’s rights, justice and more.”
Nabila Arif, a Pakistani national, shares a similar sentiment and believes that “what happened politically might not reflect the emotions of the citizens of both the countries.”
The Dubai-based university professor said: “I have very close friends from India, and I realise that we are all very similar and can be the best of friends.”
Joudat Waleed, a resident of Sharjah whose father was an officer in the Pakistani Air Force, added: “We were made to believe that Indians are and will always be our enemies, but when I moved to the UAE, I realised that all the stereotypes and prejudice I had about Indians was completely rubbish.
“I think that we, Pakistanis and Indians, should all live in harmony, that is the true essence and spirit of the UAE — all cultures are living together in harmony, in peace.”
Vashnie Naidoo, a 25-year-old South Africa born Indian, living in the UAE. “South Africa has always been a global melting pot. During the partition of India/Pakistan, many South Africans did not recognize this as being a very big event. South African citizens from both Indian and Pakistani heritages were already living together in harmony, the bigger fight at that time for people of color in South Africa was the apartheid. Questions of where you were from “originally” was never asked, it was just understood that someone else was being part of the struggle for freedom, no matter what color or creed they were. The first time I understood that India/Pakistan had any grievances was when I relocated to Dubai in 2010.”
Zainab Ismail, a South African of Indian Heritage, living in the UAE. “I am a South African living and teaching in Al Ain. My ancestors were originally from India. They moved to South Africa before the Independence of India and Pakistan in the 1920s. I once asked my dad how the Independence of India affected his grandparents he told me that it helped influence their decision to remain in South Africa as now friends and family had moved to Pakistan during the partition. In South Africa there will be a celebration of some kind at the Indian Embassy during Independence Day but the local Indians do not celebrate it as they see themselves as being more South African. Incidentally my birthday happens to be on the 14th of August and my husband is Pakistani. So we celebrate twice,”
Falah Gulzar is an intern at Gulf News
